Sawt Falasteen - Pentagon chief to testify on Iran war, peace efforts stall

Iran has blockaded the waterway -- a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments -- since the start of the US-Israeli offensive two months ago, sending shockwaves through the global economy.

US officials did not dispute accounts by CNN and The Wall Street Journal that US President Donald Trump was skeptical of the proposal.

During a White House state dinner Tuesday, Trump told Britain's King Charles III and other guests that Iran has been "militarily defeated."

He added that "Charles agrees with me even more than I do -- we're never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon."

But an Iranian army spokesman told state TV on Tuesday that "we do not consider the war to be over," saying Tehran had "no trust in America."

"We have many cards that we have not yet used... new tools and methods of fighting based on the experiences of the past two wars, which will definitely allow us to respond to the enemy more decisively" should the fighting resume, Amir Akraminia said in an interview.

Efforts to end the war have stalled in recent days, with Vice President JD Vance last week preparing to fly to Pakistan for new talks but then staying home.

The latest Iranian proposal, passed along by Pakistan and studied by Trump administration officials in a meeting Monday, laid out red lines including on nuclear issues and Hormuz, according to Iran's Fars news agency.

The plan would reportedly see Tehran ease its chokehold on the strait and Washington lift its retaliatory blockade on Iranian ports while broader negotiations continue, including over the thorny question of Iran's nuclear program.

- 'Good negotiators' -

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the proposal was "better than what we thought they were going to submit," but questioned if the Iranian officials behind it had authority, following Israeli killings of senior officials.

Rubio, in a Fox News interview, said US demands to reopen the strait meant "going back to the way it should be" and was before the US-Israeli attacks.

"They're very good negotiators," Rubio said, adding that any eventual deal had to be "one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon."

Iranian defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said Washington "must abandon its illegal and irrational demands."

"The United States is no longer in a position to dictate its policy to independent nations," he said, according to state TV.

Qatar -- a US ally that was hit by Iranian strikes despite its role as a mediator -- warned of the possibility of a "frozen conflict" if a definitive resolution is not found.

Oil prices jumped on Qatar's warning and the reports that Trump was unlikely to accept the Iranian proposal.

Brent is above the level it hit before the two sides announced a ceasefire in early April, sitting at around $112, while West Texas Intermediate broke $100 Tuesday for the first time in two weeks.

Both contracts were slightly higher on Wednesday.

Trump faces domestic pressure to find an off-ramp from the war as prices rise, with midterm elections due in November and polls showing the conflict is unpopular among Americans.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who earlier had offered guarded support to Trump, said Monday that "the Americans obviously have no strategy" in Iran and that the war was "at the very least ill-considered."

Trump later denounced Merz on social media, saying he "doesn't know what he's talking about."

- Lebanon says troops targeted -

Violence has continued on the war's Lebanese front, despite a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group that drew Lebanon into the war by firing rockets at Israel.

Israel responded with strikes and a ground invasion.

For the first time since the ceasefire began, the Lebanese army said Tuesday that an Israeli strike had targeted its troops, wounding two soldiers in the south.

Israel's military had earlier warned residents of more than a dozen villages and towns to evacuate immediately, saying Hezbollah's "violation of the ceasefire" was compelling it to act.

The military also announced it had found and destroyed a large Hezbollah tunnel network used by elite fighters.

Despite its occupation of a swath of territory along the border, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said his country "has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon."

Once Hezbollah and its allies "are dismantled, Israel will have no need to maintain its presence in these areas," he added.

The day before, Hezbollah's leader Naim Qassem had vowed the armed group would "not back down."

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O.Farraj--SF-PST